The Scene

Geriatric genius

Well, it’s good to know there are still signs of life on The Duplex Planet. Issue 155 showed up in my mail box recently with a rip in the cover featuring Ed Rogers hunched over a table with pen in hand and his eyes focused intently on the piece of paper in front of him. You don’t know Ed, so you’ll be surprised to learn that he’s the artist whose work appeared on the cover of REM’s album, Out of Time. But more importantly, Ed is also a resident at one of the nursing homes where The Duplex Planet creator, David Greenberger, was once employed. Somewhere along the way, he was inspired to capture the geriatric magic going on around him. And that he did. Greenberger has managed to generate scads of brilliant must-read little zines – as well as documentaries, a CD set, at least two books and more – out of interviews he’s conducted at nursing homes and adult daycare centers. What does it mean to sell out? Did you ever beat anyone up? Where do you look when you’re in an elevator? What’s your favorite movie? The approach seems simple enough. The results are absolute genius – insightful, hilarious, sad, fearless commentary that manages to shuffle one step ahead of irony itself.

The Duplex Planet is only available by subscription; $12 for six issues from The Duplex Planet, 1230 Saratoga Springs, New York 12866 or by e-mailing duplanet@global2000.net.